Spring-loaded instantaneous date indicator stepper and indexer

ABSTRACT

1,103,298. Calendar timepieces. EBAUCHES S.A. Jan. 24, 1967 [Feb. 22, 1966], No. 3598/67. Heading G3T. The control mechanism for the date indicator 1 of a calendar timepiece comprises two coaxial wheels 7, 11 rotatable at slightly different speeds and connected together by a spring 14 which becomes stressed as the angular displacement between the wheels increases, the wheel 7 being released once every twenty four hours whereupon its abrupt rotation indexes the date indicator one step forward. Pinions 8 and 13, fastened together on a hub 8a, drive the wheels 7 and 11 respectively, the wheel 7 having more teeth than the wheel 11. The spring 14 is located in a recess (15), Fig. 2 (not shown) in the lower surface of the wheel 11 and the ends 14a, 14b of the spring are bent at right angles to engage sector shaped openings 17 and 18 in the wheels 11 and 7 respectively. Initially the openings 17, 18 are aligned, but as the pinion 13 drives the wheel 11 at one revolution in twenty four hours, the wheel 7 is driven at a slightly slower speed by the pinion 8. The openings 17, 18 are relatively displaced and the spring stressed until a cut away segment 19 of the wheel 7 releases the wheel from its pinion 8. The sudden rotation of the wheel 7 then causes its pin 6 to engage teeth 5 of the date indicator which is advanced by one step. A detent 4 locates the indicator 1 in each position. To conserve power in an electric timepiece, the detent 4 may be raised at the moment of advancing the indicator, the pin 6 remaining in the path of the teeth 5 at the end of the operation to prevent the indicator advancing two teeth at a time.

Feb. 18, 1969 BESSQN 3,427,799

SPRING-LOADED INSTAN'I'ANEOUS DATE INDICATOR STEPPER AND INDEXER FiledJan. 31, 1967 INVENTOR Rene BESSO/Y BY Mfg ATTORNEY United States Patent3,427,799 SPRING-LOADED INSTANTANEOUS DATE INDICATOR STEPPER AND INDEXERRen Besson, Les Loges, Les Hauts-Geneveys, Switzerland, assignor toEbauches S.A., Neuchatel, Canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, a firm ofSwitzerland Filed Jan. 31, 1967, Ser. No. 612,949 Claims priority,applicatior6l S/v6vi6tzerland, Feb. 22, 1966, 3

US. C]. 58-58 Claims Int. Cl. G04b 19/24 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Acalendar timepiece with means for the instantaneous stepping-forward ofthe date indicator.

The present invention relates to a calendar timepiece with a so-calledinstantaneous stepping-forward of the date indicator.

Timepieces of this type are in themselves already known. However, insuch known timepieces, when the resetting of the date on the calendar iseffected, other than by the set-hands mechanism of the timepiece, by adevice that allows a very speedy re-setting of the date on the calendar,the controlling elements of the date indicator become warped, if manualre-setting of the date is carried out while the operation of theso-called instantaneous mechanism is being readied, an interval whichlasts some time.

An object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks byproviding a timepiece of the above mentioned type in which theinstantaneous operation for the forward movement of the date indicatorcan ready itself without preventing the manual manipulation of the datere-setting device of the calendar.

The timepiece according to the invention is characterized by the factthat the date indicator control mechanism comprises two coaxial drivenwheels, the first having an operational rate of one revolution every 24bowls and the second having an operational rate of a slightly differentspeed, the two wheels being connected to each other by an elastic devicewhich becomes stressed as the angular displacement between the twowheels increases due to the difference in their speeds of rotation,there being means provided for releasing the second wheel from itsdriving device once in each 24 hours in such a manner that such secondwheel then undergoes an abrupt rotational movement under the action ofthe elastic connection device, in the course of which it drives the dateindicator forward one step in one so-called instantaneous jump.

The accompanying drawings show, by way of example, one embodiment of thecontrol mechanism of the invention.

In these drawings,

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a timepiece, in which only.thoseelements necessary for an understanding of the invention have beenshown,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line IIII of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a detail, analogous to that in FIG. 1, showingthe elements in a different position.

The timepiece shown comprises a ring I mounted rotatively on the bottomplate 2 of the timepiece movement, on which ring the date indicators 3are carried. It should be noted that only some of the dates have beenindicated in the drawing, the total of thirty-one days of the monthbeing distributed around the whole annular surface of the ring 1.

The ring 1 is submitted to the action of a jumper spring 4, showndiagrammatically, which co-operates with inner 3,427,799 Patented Feb.18, 1969 teeth 5 provided on the ring for ensuring the stability of thevarious stationary positions of the latter.

The driving of the ring 1 is ensured by a pin 6 carried by a wheel 7that meshes with a pinion 8, the hub 8a of which bears a wheel 9 meshingwith the hour-wheel, shown partially and denoted by 10. The wheel 7 iscoaxial with a wheel 11 on which it is loosely mounted. To this effect,the wheel 7 is rigid with a sleeve 12 freely engaged on the hub, denotedby 11a, of the wheel 11. This latter wheel meshes with a pinion 13fastened on the hub 8a of the pinion 8. The gearing ratio is such thatthe wheel 11 turns at the rate of one revolution every 24 hours, whereasthe wheel 7 turns slightly slower. To this effect, the two pinions 8 and13 have the same number of teeth but are of different modules, whereasthe wheel 7 has a number of teeth which is greater than that of thewheel 11.

The wheels 7 and 11 are connected by a wire spring 14 in the form of anopen ring accommodated in a recess 15, provided on the lower surface ofthe wheel 11, and held in place by a fixing plate 16 attached to acollet 11b provided on such wheel. The wheels 7 and 11 each have anopening, 17 and 18 respectively, in the form oia segment of a circle,into which openings the two tips 14a and 14b of the spring 14 project,which tips are each bent at a right angle. Finally, the wheel 7 has asector, denoted by 19 on the drawing, which is devoid of any teeth.

The operation of the timepiece is as follows:

When the two wheels 7 and 11 are driven by the pinions 8 and13'respectively, which are rigid with each other, there occurs betweensuch wheels an angular displacement which increases as they advance, dueto the difference in their speeds. In the course of this movement, thespring 14 becomes progressively stressed, its two tips 14a and 14bdrawing closer under the effect of the pull forces exerted upon them bythe wheels 7 and 11 respectively. At the moment the toothless sector 19of the wheel 7 comes opposite the pinion 8, in the position shown inFIG. 1, the wheel 7 is released, so that it advances abruptly under theaction of the connecting spring 14 to the position in which the twoopenings 17 and 18 are located opposite each other. In the course ofthis movement, the pin *6 co-operates with the teeth 5 of the ring 1 tocause this latter to advance by one step. The movement initiated by thepin 6 is completed by the jumper-spring 4.

By way of variation, an arrangement is possible in which the jumper 4will be raised by a suitable mechanism at the moment when the advancingoperation of the date ring is to be effected. Such an arrangement wouldbe particularly advantageous in an electric timepiece in which the powerreserve is small. In this case, and in order to prevent the date ringfrom advancing two teeth at a time, due to effects of inertia, the pin 6is arranged to be still in the path of the teeth of the teeth 5, at thetermination of the instantaneous jump of the wheel 7.

The wheel 7 is then driven round by the wheel 11, through theintermediary of the connecting spring 14, until the time when itstoothless sector 19 ceases to be opposite the pinion 8. From that momenton, the driving round of the wheel 7 is once more ensured by the pinion8, and the wheel 7 slows up in relation to the wheel 11, the spring 14again becoming stressed.

It should be noted that, if the manual re-setting of the date of thecalendar is carried out, in one direction or another, when the variouselements are in the position shown in FIG. 3, in which the pin 6 isstill engaged with the teeth 5 of the ring 1, the mechanism is notthereby warped, the pin 6 being then driven by the teeth 5, in onedirection or the other, this producing a shifting of the wheels 7 and 11in the course of which the spring 14 is made possible by the fact thatthe sector 19 is then opposite the pinion 8.

It should be noted that the period during which the instantaneousputting forward of the dates is being prepared, a period that lastspractically twenty hours, does not bring the pin 6 into the pathtraversed by the teeth 5.

The present mechanism has, inter alia, the advantage that the stressingof the spring which effects the instantaneous forward movement of thedates takes place over practically the whole duration of the day, andnot once every 24 hours over a brief period of time, and this isadvantageous from the point of view of timing the timepiece.

What I claim is:

1. In a calendar timepiece having an instantaneouslymovable type of dateindicator advancing mechanism,

a control mechanism for the date indicator comprising in combination,

two coaxially-arranged driven wheels each having an openingtherethrough,

the first wheel being driven at a rate of one revolution each 24 hoursand the second wheel being driven at a slightly different rate, anelastic connecting device for interconnecting the first and secondwheels and consisting of an open ring type 'wire spring having a pair oftips bent normal to the primary plane of the spring, each of the tips ofthe pair being extendable through the respective openings of the firstand second wheels, with the difference in the rotational speedsof thewheels serving to stress the elastic connecting device as angulardisplacement between the first and second wheels increases,

means for releasing the second wheel from its driving mechanism onceevery 24 hours for imparting cooperatively with the elastic connectingdevice an abrupt rotational movement to the second wheel and foraccordingly driving the date indicator one step forward in aninstantaneous jump,

the openings in the first and second wheels being disposed one above theother by the springing action of the elastic connecting device with thefirst and second wheels at their relative angular positions of rest atthe termination of the instantaneous jump.

2. In the calendar timepiece as set forth in claim 1, including a commongear train for driving the first and second wheels, with the numbers ofthe teeth of the first and second wheels being different for attainingthe different speeds of rotation.

3. In the calendar timepiece as set forth in claim 1, including a pinionfor driving the second wheel, and a toothless sector on the secondwheel, with the second wheel being momentarily released as the toothlesssector is disposed opposite the pinion for achieving the abrupt drivingat the second wheel by the elastic connecting device.

'4. In the calendar timepiece as set forth in claim 3, the toothlesssector extending over an angular distance greater than the distance ofthe abrupt displacement of the second wheel for driving the second wheeluntil its teeth again engage the pinion driving the second wheel throughthe first wheel and elastic connecting device.

5. In a calendar timepiece having a rotatable date-indicating ringoperated once every 24 hours by energy derived from the timepiecehour-wheel and stored up during the interval when the rotatable ring isrendered non-rotative and functioning to rotate the ring through anangle sufiicient to cause a date indication on the ring at a certainpoint to be replaced at the certain point by the next succeeding dateindication on the ring, a date indicator control mechanism comprising: afirst date indicating ring driving wheel and a second wheel mountedconcentrically as to each other and each having an opening therethrough,the first wheel being pinion driven by the timepiece hour wheel at arate of one revolution each 24 hours, the second wheel being piniondriven by the timepiece hour wheel at a slightly different rate ofspeed, an open ring type wire spring for interconnecting the first andsecond wheels and having a pair of free upstanding ends extendablethrough the respective openings of the first and second wheels, with thedilferent rotational speeds of the first and second wheels progressivelystressing the spring under the increase in the angular displacement ofthe wheels, means for releasing the first wheel from its driving piniononce every 24 hours and imparting thereto an abrupt rotational movementunder the concomitant release of the spring tension and accordinglydriving the date indicating ring one step forward in an instantaneousjump, the first and second wheels being simultaneously returned to theirrelative angular positions of rest with the openings in alignment oneover the other at the termination of the instantaneous jump under thedecreased tension of the released spring.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 172,591 11/1921 Great Britain.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

G. H. MILLER, JR., Assistant Examiner.

